Joseph Prince - Find Out What Brings Lasting Peace

I’m excited with God’s Word. In fact, for the past weeks, the Lord has been giving us a revival in his Word, it’s back to the Bible, amen, and he’s imparting a fresh love for his Word. So I’m so excited about the Bible because every time, you know, I get into the Word of God, I’m seeing new things, and God is opening my eyes. And after all these years, you know, like you look at passages that you are familiar with and you thought you know them, but all of a sudden, God opened my eyes and I began to see things that I’d never seen before, and some of these things I’ll be sharing with you today. But God’s Word is what gives us life. The Bible says, «Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, even by the Word of God, which lives and abides forever».

Think of that, there’s corruptible seed and there’s incorruptible seed. We are born again of incorruptible seed, God’s Word, amen? So if you live by God’s Word, and guess what Jesus said? Jesus said, «Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God». When you think about it, we know that we can’t live without food. But by the same token, Jesus is saying that all the more, you cannot live without the Word of God. Friend, the Word of God is what gives us life in the very beginning. When God made man, God made man from the dust of the ground. But man was like a mannequin, you know, he has form, he has all the features, but lifeless. So which part of man was it? When God breathed into man, what brought that life? It was the breath of God.

The breath of God gave life to man in his spirit and then permeates in his soul and then life to his body. And every time I find that I spend time in the Word of God, you know, and I have a time of revelation in the Word of God and communing with the Lord, I always stand up and I go out with joy. In fact, the Bible says in Isaiah 55, God says, «My word», God’s Word is so concentrated in heaven. For us to receive it like that, you know, God’s wisdom is beyond us. So God says, my wisdom, «My ways are higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts». But then he says this in Isaiah 55, «For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, And do not return there».

Now, notice the verse before this tells us that his thoughts are beyond our thoughts, his ways, higher than our ways. It’s like concentrated wisdom, we are not able to digest it, we are not able to assimilate it, we are not able to understand it. But God is so kind, God is so good that he allows his wisdom to come like rain, rain comes down. Friend, if rain comes down, you know, let’s say rain has been coming down for about the last four hours. Now, imagine taking all that water, all that rain, you know, can you imagine how many tons of rain that is?

And if you let all that rain fall one splat, just splash like that, without making it drop in droplets, you know, it will destroy things on the earth. But the same amount of rain falling and mixing with the dust and the particles of the air and God allow it to become rain or snow, now when it falls even on the smallest flower, it refreshes that flower, it reinvigorates that flower, it is nourishment to that flower, amen, it doesn’t hurt. So that’s what God’s wisdom comes. If it’s all concentrated, we can’t take it, all right? But God allows it to come in bite size, amen, portion after portion like the manna.

«For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, And do not return there, But water the earth, And make it bring forth and bud, That it may give seed to the sower And bread to the eater». «Seed to the sower and bread to the eater,» so it says, «So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it». So God’s Word comes down, listen, just like the snow and the rain will cause the seed to sprout, to become fruitful, right, God’s Word tells us, «My word is the same, it will not return to me empty, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it».

So if you’re sick in your body, amen, listen to Scriptures of healing. Listen to God’s Word, God-breathed words on healing, amen. If you’re sick, saturate yourself with the Word of God, saturate yourself, amen? As long as you’re receiving the Word of God pertaining to healing and the very seed that God is speaking in the Word, the Word is likened to a seed, it will always reproduce itself. So words of healing will reproduce as healing in your body, amen? So when you receive God’s Word, you are receiving prosperity because the Bible says, «So it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it». So if God sends his Word to me, his Word prospers me, hallelujah, amen.

Look at the result after this, in verse 12, it says, «For you shall go out with joy». «For,» that means because of God’s Word, «you shall go out with joy, And be led out with peace; The mountains and the hills Shall break forth into singing before you, And all the trees of the fields shall clap their hands». Notice, you go out with joy and you are led out with peace. These are the two things I find so true in my life, that every time I spend time in the Word of God and after I spend time in the Word of God, it’s like there is a joy beyond, you know, the normal joys of life. It’s like beyond my emotions, like a joy within. And then I feel like deep down, there’s a peace that leads me. I make the right decision because from then on, I’m led forth with peace. Like this verse says, I’m led forth with peace.

I go out with joy and I’m led forth with peace. It’s like a picture of receiving God’s Word early in the morning, amen, before you go out in the fight of life, hallelujah, and then you go out with joy and you are led forth with peace, amen. Notice what’s going to happen, «The mountains and the hills will break forth into singing, they’ll clap their hands,» right? «Instead of the thorn,» instead of the curse, «shall come up the cypress tree». That’s your Christmas tree, by the way. Imagine God using that, I’m sure that God knows that it’s going to be something celebratory of his Son’s birth, so «Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress tree,» a tree of blessing, a tree of joy, «And instead of a brier shall come up the myrtle tree,» hadass tree, the name of Esther, hadass, Hadassah. «And it shall be to the Lord for a name, For an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off».

So, all these trees speaks of people. So when you spend time in the Word of God and you are filled with joy and you go out, you are led with peace. In all your decision making, you are led with peace, hallelujah. There’s a peace to do something. There’s a lack of peace, which means what? Abstain from doing that, amen, don’t go into that. Don’t indulge in that, amen, follow the peace. And everywhere you go, when you do that, when you go out with joy and you are led forth with peace, the mountains and the hills, the mountains are the VIPs. The hills are the people, the common folk, right, they will all clap their hands. And instead of the curse will come up the cypress tree.

In other words, blessing everywhere you go, where there used to be a curse, it will start to blossom. You are a blessing everywhere you go when you are filled with the Word of God, hallelujah! May this be true in your life from this day forth, amen, because right now, you are receiving God’s Word. Right now, you are receiving God’s Word. So when you receive God’s Word, be expectant to go out with joy and to be led forth with peace from this day forth, hallelujah! I want to share with you something that the Lord shared in private with his disciples. Publicly, he shared a truth, but it’s very interesting, he shared the truth publicly, actually, but this truth is so precious to him that he said to his disciples, the reason I didn’t share with them openly but in parables is because this truth is so precious, about the kingdom of heaven, how it operates, I don’t want the people who don’t treasure it to receive it.

I want people who are hungry and whose hearts are towards me to receive it. Let’s read this parable. «And He said, 'The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground, and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he himself does not know how.'» I like this, «he himself does not know how». So this man scatters seed on the ground and he goes to sleep by night and rise by day. In other words, he just lives his normal life, «and the seed should sprout and grow, he himself does not know how».

So the ground, we’ve established, Jesus himself said the ground is our hearts. In other words, as you are listening to God’s Word, and friends, today there are many ways to listen to God’s Word. As you are studying God’s Word, you are actually listening with your inner ear, you are actually listening. And even reading, faith comes by hearing. It’s not just hearing audibly from outside, as you are reading, you are also receiving. But there are many who receive by hearing, literally, from outside. And we thank God that now we have the advent of audiobooks, and audiobooks is like the trend now.

And there are people who don’t like to read, they find their concentration is not there, but they’d rather listen on-the-go. As they are doing things, you know, they are listening to an audiobook. They can finish many books that way. Friend, how about prioritizing God’s Word? Prioritize God’s Word, just listen to God’s Word. If you’re not the reading type, all right, listen to God’s Word. If you are sick in your body, it’s not enough to say, okay, I’m just going to take Communion, right, that’s how I know I’ll be healed. Yes, friend, but you need the Word about Communion, you need, you know, it’s not a magical formula, friend, it is actually a revelation.

This is a time of communion with the Lord, having that revelation where, you know, you see what he has done for you, you love him, and then you receive from him, hallelujah, and that can only come about as you get fresh revelation. Even though you knew it before, you need a fresh revelation. Every time, amen, you come to the Word of God, you start telling yourself, that’s why meditation is so important. Keep on mulling over God’s Word. Keep on musing over God’s Word. Keep on revolving God’s Word in your mind day and night. And the Bible says, the one who does that, whatever he does shall prosper. Not only that, his leaf will always be green. In other words, he’s evergreen, he’s always young, he’s always vigorous. He’s always fresh, even in his old age.

«And whatever he does», I like that, «whatever he does prospers,» and the promise is what? The one who meditates, the one who meditates on God’s Word. Because meditation is actually causing yourself to hear the Word again. When you meditate, you hear the Word again and again, hallelujah. Another way is to listen to preaching, good preaching. Make sure the preaching is on the Word of God. And as you are receiving the preaching, you understand it, guess what? It will grow. But this parable here that Jesus is sharing is about a man who is hearing, and he is actually speaking or reading the Word of God and he is in contact with the Word of God, and the Word has fallen into his heart.

Now, he’s telling this man, God is saying that this man does not need to worry about how the seed grows, «he knows not how». All he got to do is make sure he’s listening, make sure he’s hearing, have a good heart towards hearing, amen, hear to receive, to understand. If he has that heart, the Bible says he can go to sleep night and day, just live his normal life, and you know what? The harvest will come. The seed will sprout and grow, he himself does not know how. I like that because many a time people say, you know, you got to know how the process works. We need to have intelligence about these things. We need to participate with God. We need to cooperate with God. Friend, our only cooperation is to receive the Word, the Word itself does the job.

You know, when a woman receives seed from the man, she doesn’t have to worry about the first month, second month, third month, how, you know, her body is responding, how the body is helping to help create that precious life, that precious new form and body that is being formed in her. She doesn’t have to worry about all that, the seed takes care of itself. All the wisdom, the DNA and the genes and all, all that is… the wisdom of God is actually in that seed to reproduce another human being. When you think about it, when God talked about the seed in the beginning, God said, on the third day, actually, think of it, when God introduced plants into this earth, this is what God said: «Then God said, 'Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth, '» notice that? «Whose seed is in itself».

So God introduced the grass and the herb and the trees, and then he says, «Whose seed is in itself». So the apple fruit, the seed is in it, all right? Whatever it is, the pear, the vine, all the seed is in it. «And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind,» again, reminding us it’s according to its kind, «and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. So the evening and the morning were the third day».

Now, this is the first mention of number three in the Bible, and the law of first mention applies here. Every time something is mentioned for the first time, there’s something significant for us to take note of. And number three is the number of resurrection, as well as manifestation. Jesus rose from the dead on the third day, he manifested himself as The Risen One on the third day. So for the first time God said, let the earth bring forth grass, let the dry land appear. And then God says, let trees appear, let plants appear, and all the fruit trees bearing seed in itself, reproducing after its kind, it’s like God foresaw. And all this was done on the third day, it’s like God foresaw Jesus coming in on the third day, resurrected, hallelujah.

And he’s telling us that every seed, even normal seed, even back then, thank God, all the salad you ate yesterday, right, all the fruit trees today are all a reproduction of the very first seed that was there in the Garden of Eden when God first spoke. And not only the Garden of Eden, all over the earth, you know, when God first spoke. It’s amazing how seed reproduces itself, hallelujah, it’s amazing! It’s like, on the third day, God talked about seed, and seed has resurrection power. You know, in the 1960s, when they were doing some excavations in King Herod’s palace over at Masada, they found an old pot. And it had seeds, you know, different kind of seeds and plus, a date, a Judean date palm seed in it.

So what happened is that they kept the seed for some time. And notice, it’s in Masada, which is the lowest place on planet Earth, so it’s very dry and arid in that place. And they kept that seed. Now, that was in the '60s, but in 2005, they planted that seed. And that seed, based on carbon dating and all that, is about 2,000 years old, from the time of Jesus, and that’s the time of King Herod as well. And that seed, they planted that seed, that Judean date palm seed. They planted that seed in Israel, the 2,000-year-old seed, and guess what? It started sprouting again, whoof! Remember, the Bible says, «The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree». I think God is sending a message to Israel and to the world that he’s going to resurrect Israel, hallelujah, praise the Lord, and all of us in these last days.

And there’s a promise given that they shall always be fat and green, and the word «fat» there is vigorous, and the word «green» is ever young, hallelujah, and the promise is given in Psalms 92. But here, the seed started sprouting, 2,000-year-old seed started sprouting again, and you know what? It’s called the Methuselah tree. Let me show you a picture of that, here it is in a place in Ketura. They planted this seed taken from Masada, and it started to blossom. And now, last year, 2020, it’s about 11 feet tall already. And now they are using this Methuselah tree, they say it’s a male tree, to pollinate the other female palm trees in Israel. It’s starting to become fruitful again.

No wonder God says in Psalms 92, «They shall bring forth fruit in their old age». «The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree,» and the next verse says, «They shall bring forth fruit in their old age,» hallelujah; «they shall be fat» (or vigorous), the Hebrew word is vigorous, «and green,» ra’anan, green, forever green, hallelujah, praise the Lord, thank you Jesus, hallelujah. So this is the Methuselah tree. So think of it, this is the power of resurrection. A 2,000-year-old seed is supposed to be dead, deader than dead, but it starts to resurrect again, hallelujah. And the life is in the seed. Just like the Methuselah tree, that seed is in it, kept there for a long time.

You know, I was meditating along these lines and, actually, I was reading something else and my Bible happened to fall into this particular verse in Leviticus, believe it or not, but Leviticus, where it says this: «And if a part of any such carcass falls on any planting seed which is to be sown, it remains clean». Now, this is one of the laws they had back then, «If a part of any such carcass,» now, this carcass is a carcass, you read earlier verses, it talks about the gecko lizard, it talks about different kinds of reptiles and, you know, animals that are dead bodies, if their carcass falls on any planting seed which is to be sown, that seed remains clean. Now, this kind of verse really gets me going, you know, do you understand that?

I didn’t understand it, but as I meditated on it, God opened my eyes and I began to see something here. God is saying, from this one verse, God is saying that carcass is a picture of corruption and death. If it falls on any planting seed which is to be sown, that seed remains clean. Now, that means death and corruption cannot overpower that resurrection life that is in that seed, hallelujah, that life is greater than corruption and death. That life swallows up death, hallelujah!

When you have God’s Word in your life, amen, death cannot overtake you. Corruption cannot seize you because the seed of God’s Word in you is greater than them, hallelujah, hallelujah, praise the Lord, I’m getting happy here. You know, when God opened this to me, you know, don’t you get excited when you read God’s Word and you read things before and you just pass them by and all of a sudden, it’s like the Holy Spirit is saying, «Stop, read again,» and then God opened your eyes? And I understand it, I understand it, God is showing that life is greater, far greater, superior to death, death and corruption cannot stop that life from reproducing itself.

That planting seed, hallelujah, which is a picture of the Word of God, amen? So if you are struggling in any way, whatever area it is, whether it’s lack in your life, you know, you need to pay up for some bill that is long-standing and you’re not able to, that means there’s an area of lack, whatever it is, or you are struggling with some symptoms in your body, my friend, spend time in the Word, especially the Word pertaining to these areas, hallelujah, saturate yourself with the Word of God. Start hearing sermons, preachings, amen, where the Word of God is being shared, expounded. Where the kernel of the wheat is broken up and you see the germ inside, you see the revelation being unfolded to you, because when the Word of God drops into your heart, you will manifest that harvest in your life.